Dallas' Darren Collison (4) is fouled by Houston's Kevin Martin (12) in the third quarter during the Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks NBA preseason basketball game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Monday, October 15, 2012.

Maverick fans lack experience in dealing with expectations for rookies. Over the last half-dozen years, there just haven’t been many of them to get excited about.

And one preseason game isn’t going to change that.

Just ask Jae Crowder. He learned real fast that an 18-point fourth quarter in an exhibition doesn’t mean he’s arrived.

“I’m still a rookie,” Crowder said with a grin Tuesday. “You know how coach [Rick] Carlisle is about the rookies. I’m still in the doghouse. But it’s cool. I just put my hard hat on and go to work. If I do that every day, hopefully I’ll get the minutes.”

Crowder, like fellow rookies Jared Cunningham and Bernard James, played well against the Houston Rockets. Crowder finished with 20 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and 4-of-7 3-point shooting. On the bad side, he was 0-of-5 from the free throw line.

Crowder is beginning the long, difficult task of gaining respect from veterans like Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion who have put in more than a decade in the league. It’s a process that won’t happen with one good quarter.

“All of us guys were The Man in college,” said Crowder, placing extra emphasis on the term. “So you come from being The Man to being at the bottom of the totem pole. It’s a much different atmosphere you got to adjust to.

“Those guys want you to earn their respect, but they’re here to help you, too. They always have advice for you. So you see both sides, them being hard on you to make you earn your stripes. But they help you, too. I love my job.”

Nowitzki remembers when he was a rookie and all the veterans ended practice by punting the basketballs as far as they could into the stands.

Young Dirk had to go fetch every one of them. But that’s part of the NBA initiation process. Another part is proving you belong.

“Our three rookies have great credibility with our guys because they’re all very serious, they all approach the job very professionally and they come in every day with a great attitude and high energy,” Carlisle said. “That gives them a head start. And they step into a game like they did last night and hit shots, make plays defensively and bring energy and share the ball and do the things we feel we’re about as an organization, it helps even more.

“But the thing in this league is we’re in Game 3 of 90 games if you count 82-plus eight exhibitions. Once you do it in one game, you got to turn around and do it in the next game. And that’s always a challenge because of how well teams scout.”

The Phoenix Suns on Wednesday at American Airlines Center no doubt will take note of Crowder’s 15 shots in 15 minutes against the Rockets.

Even that showing wasn’t enough to get his coach off of him, Crowder said.

“He just came out today and was hard on me like he’s [been] every day thus far,” Crowder said of Tuesday’s practice. “He just keeps me level-headed, keeps me knowing I’m a rookie. I missed a shot and he said, ‘You gotta make that shot.’ And I’m like, you’re going to miss some shots. He’s holding the bar pretty high for me.”

Crowder said his fourth quarter against the Rockets took him back to his college days, when he was Big East player of the year at Marquette. For a night, he wasn’t the rookie who had to buy $250 worth of fried chicken for the team on the flight from Dallas to Europe two weeks ago.

He hopes the outing against Houston is enough to show Carlisle and his teammates at least one thing.

“That I’m a winner, that I do everything on the court to win games,” he said. “I like to fight and by whatever means do whatever it takes.”

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